Security researchers from antivirus software firm G Data have discovered that more than 750,000 new malicious apps have sprung out during the first quarter of this year, with estimates the total number will grow up to a staggering 3.5 million by the end of 2017.

The report further warns the problem is particularly widespread among devices from third-party phonemakers where software updates that tend to receive software updates less frequently and sometimes with significant delays.

To give you some more context, G Data researchers also note that in comparison to this year, they were able to identify at least 3.2 and 2.3 million infected apps in 2016 and 2015 respectively.